Editorial: Spring-Summer/Գարուն-Ամառ 2013

With each passing editorial, we wonder how many of the compatriots that came before us have sat with pen touching paper and have tried to articulate the contemplation, frustration and hopefulness we feel every year as spring rolls around and we mark another April 24 on our calendar. One of our most iconic pens must have felt a similar sense of reflection as he looked back at the fifty Aprils that had passed in his lifetime and urged his brothers and sisters to “mourn the dead, cast fire and proclaim life”. We have chosen to echo the last phrase of Paruyr Sevak’s rallying cry on our cover as we have doubled Sevak’s fifty years of contemplation and draw close to a century of Aprils. We are not the same people who were led to slaughter, and though calling it a blessing in disguise makes us question the very meaning of the word- it has undoubtedly tempered our communal psyche.

Where we hope to make a statement with this issue, is our coupling of our meditations on the theme of genocide and denial with a celebration of rebirth and forward march, as we also mark another important milestone: the eightieth anniversary of the AYF. This organisation would have been very different had it not been born in the early, dark days when a nation was trying to get its footing and could not entertain the idea of flourishing: it was merely enough to survive.

We have left those sad days in our rear view and while it is important to take an occasional glance back there is no way to move forward if your future is not your rallying point. We urge all who have experienced their own contemplation to keep Sevak’s cry in the forefront of their outlook and continue to proclaim life.